Amazon Queen

I gestured to Bern, who had been standing quietly by the side door that led outside. 'Plus two more, hearth- keepers.'

Surprise flickered behind Mel's hazel eyes, but she didn't comment on my lack of companions, or the fact that hearth-keepers wouldn't be anyone's first choice in a battle, unless it was a cook-off.

At least, that is what I had thought just a week ago. Recently I'd seen a side to Lao I'd never realized a hearth-keeper possessed. Maybe Tess had more to offer too.

Mel nodded. 'Plenty of room if you don't mind sharing.' She tilted her head toward my mother. 'Your mom is staying there too.' She zeroed in on Bern, who had taken up position by the side door that led outside. 'Let's find the others and get you settled.'

She walked past me on the way to the door. I wrapped my fingers around her bicep. 'Thanks.'

A hardness shone from her eyes. 'Don't thank me. I haven't said how long you can stay yet.' Then she kept moving. Bern followed and in thirty seconds I was alone with my mother again.

I stared at the woman who had given birth to me. Then I moved to follow my friend. My mother's voice stopped me. 'If you don't say why you're here, she won't let you stay long.'

I turned back. 'You and Mel get close?'

She lifted one side of her mouth in an imitation of a smile, then gestured with her head toward the workout room where we had left the baby. 'We have something in common.'

Of course, they both had sons from a son. Mel was looking for hers. She'd only found out about her grandmother's deception last fall. She'd been looking for him, or as far as I knew she had. I hadn't heard that she had found him yet-and I was fairly certain I would have. Even in the unplugged world of the Amazons, that kind of news would have made it back to me.

My mother was still watching me, waiting.

I let out a frustrated grunt. 'My camp turned against me, all but the three I mentioned. I'm not sure what that means, where that leaves me.'

She frowned. 'What do you mean, 'where that leaves you?' Where could it leave you?'

'I lost my position of queen. It was stripped from me.'

She shook her head like I'd said something she couldn't quite believe. 'Says who? And what made you queen anyway?'

'The council. . or. . ' Thea had said it. There was a possibility she was lying. Confused, I pressed my fingers to my forehead.

'What council? I'm on the council and no one asked my opinion.'

'But you left.'

'Did I? That's news to me.'

'You had to; the council voted to kill the. . your baby. And you haven't. . he's still-' The conversation was uncomfortable. I was uncomfortable.

She walked toward me, her face grim. 'I'm still an Amazon, I'm still a warrior, and I'm still on the high council. Do you honestly think I'd walk away from any of that? What about you, daughter? What are you?'

Dana walking into the room with a baby in each arm gave me a good exit point. I left the basement through the side door without answering.

Darkness had fallen while I was having my mother/daughter chat, but Mel's outdoor lights had clicked on. I got as far as the walkway between the main building and the old gym/cafeteria where we would be staying before being stopped by another surprise.

Jack.

He was leaning against the door that opened into the old cafeteria part of the building, right across the walk from the outside stairwell I'd just climbed up, out of the main building's basement.

I thought about walking past him, but didn't. I knew he wouldn't let me easily and I was tired of fighting- something I'd never imagined I'd be.

I stopped in front of him, my arms crossed over my chest.

'You left,' he said.

He'd been there. He'd seen me. I didn't have to tell him what had happened.

'I wasn't sure you would.'

I shrugged. My mother's words were still ringing in my ears: What about you, daughter? What are you?

Jack seemed to sense what I was thinking. . feeling. . He pushed himself away from the wall and into my space. 'What's wrong with you?' His eyes were hard and dark, filled with fire.

I stared back at him knowing my own were dead. My fire had gone out. I didn't know if I could ever get it back.

He leaned even closer, until his nose almost touched mine. 'Don't tell me I was right the first time. Don't tell me, you are just a sheep.'

When I didn't reply, he cursed. His hands opened and closed at his sides. I could tell he wanted to grapple something. . me, I guessed.

I watched dispassionately. The Amazons didn't want me. I wasn't queen. I had no pony in this race.

When he spun back, I could see the wolverine inside him staring out at me. 'I get through to you and you give up? Is that it?' He took a step back toward me, back in my space, but this time he went further. He pushed me against the building.

With one hand on each of my shoulders he held me there, pinned to the wooden siding.

'So, tell me. One little slap of reality and you fold up? Give up? Is all your fight gone? Exactly how far down did you let them beat you?'

He spit the words out, ugly and harsh.

'If you're that easy to defeat, I guess they were right. You aren't a queen.' He bent his elbows and propelled himself away from me.

I let him get as far as the walk before I picked up a cantaloupe-sized stone that doubled as a doorstop and flung it at his head.

Chapter 14

He spun so quickly, I didn't see the movement, but I saw him duck, saw his hand shoot above his head, and I saw his grin when he caught the cannonball of rock in his bare hand. 'The queen is back.'

I didn't share his joviality. I jumped and kicked, aiming for his head. He dropped the rock and plowed forward, his head going between my legs. With me straddling his shoulder, he stood. Momentum sent me falling backward. I would have tumbled to the ground except he held me by one calf. I dangled with my back to his, my hair brushing the ground.

I cursed, then used every bit of abdominal strength I had to pull myself back up. I grabbed him by the hair and jerked, then dropped my weight forward. I landed palms down in a handstand that I quickly converted to a flip. Four feet away, I faced him.

The grin was back.

I growled, and he rushed me.

He was fast, preternaturally fast. I was too, but nothing compared him. I tried, but was unable to move out of his path. He slammed into me, knocking me onto the ground.

His full body weight pressing me into the earth, he stared down at me. 'If we work together, you can get everything you want.'

My heart pounded against my breastbone. 'You think?' I asked.

He dipped his face lower, so his lips barely brushed mine. 'I know.'

I didn't move; my mind was whirling. My training said to toss him off, to wipe the wearisome smile off his face, but another part of me, a part I'd forgotten existed, couldn't move, not without doing something that would give away thoughts I didn't want to be having, shouldn't be having.

He was a son. Whether I thought killing Amazon infant sons was wrong or not, I